Focus on Life Week 15 Aged Beauty

Childhood gift of a Chinese Charm bracelet

This week our prompt for the Focus on Life was Aged Beauty.  The first picture that came into my mind was a charm bracelet I was given as a child by my good friends Anne and Carla.  Sisters.  Their parents parents were in the foreign service and they had lived in China.  They brought back this bracelet at some point and later it was given to me.  I have saved it all these years because I always loved these intricate bamboo carvings.

close up one of the hand carved charms 

 They held a special magic for me back then and still do now.  Once I thought of this bracelet I remembered another piece of jewelry in my childhood jewelry box.  It is a necklace my grandfather made out of silver that he had wire wrapped with Lapis lazuli.

Lapis lazuli necklace made by my grandfather

 I wore this necklace for many years before I ever even thought of making jewelry.  It is very long--about 46 inches--so I wrapped it around my neck several times.

                                                    detail of my grandfather's  wire wrapping

                                                detail of the lapis and wire wrapping

 My grandfather died very young so I never met him but I always have held him in high regard and believed that his artistic work was a sign that I should be an artist.  He also made leather book bindings with intricate tooled designs. He was an American but lived in Florence, Italy where my mother was born.

I am always surprised that Sally's prompts lead me into wonderful paths of discovery.  Thank you once again for this wonderful journey Sally.
Now let us see where everyone else has been transported this week.  HERE